In January 2026, people invoicing on their personal identification number (CNP) learned that they would enter the system from 1 June and would have to register on a list. In May, a law took them out again before it took effect. PFAs, by contrast, never left: they have been in the system since 2024, with a shorter deadline from 2026. Anyone who has not followed both changes very likely has the wrong picture of their own obligation.
PFA (persoană fizică autorizată), the authorised sole-trader form, the individual enterprise (întreprindere individuală), the family enterprise (întreprindere familială) and the liberal professions, identified by a tax registration code, transmit all invoices through the RO e-Factura system, the national electronic invoicing system: those to companies and public institutions from 1 January 2024, those to individuals from 1 January 2025, within five working days of issue, regardless of VAT status or turnover.
An individual who invoices using their personal identification number (CNP), without a registered form of organisation, such as recipients of copyright income and occasional collaborators, was exempted from 1 June 2026, by Legea nr. 88/2026. For them, the system is optional. The obligation does not depend on the basis of taxation, the flat-rate income quota (normă de venit) or the actual-income system, but solely on tax identification: CUI or CNP.
All economic operators established in Romania, including PFAs, individual enterprises, family enterprises and the liberal professions, transmit invoices to other taxable persons through the system. From 1 July 2024, only an invoice transmitted through the system is a supporting document, subject to the statutory exceptions.
Invoices issued to individuals also come within the system, including simplified invoices, from any issuer subject to the obligation. Penalties for B2C apply from 1 July 2025.
Under OUG nr. 89/2025, the transmission deadline becomes five working days from issue, instead of the previous five calendar days. Invoices to taxable persons not established but registered for VAT purposes in Romania must also be transmitted.
The obligation introduced at the start of the year for persons identified by a CNP, with compulsory registration on the list, was removed by Legea nr. 88/2026 before it took effect. The system becomes optional for them, through the optional register and Form 081. Farmers under the special scheme and foreign cultural institutes are, in turn, exempted.
The first question: which code do you invoice on? If on a tax registration code, you are in the system, fully, like any company. If on a CNP, you are outside it, optionally. It does not matter whether you are registered for VAT, whether you are taxed under the flat-rate income quota or the actual-income system, or whether you invoice once a year or daily.
The second question: who are you invoicing? For those with a tax registration code, the answer no longer changes the obligation, only the date from which it arose: 2024 for companies and institutions, 2025 for individuals. For those on a CNP, not even the recipient matters: the exemption covers both relationships.
A nuance for content creators and for professionals working across two channels: copyright income, invoiced on a CNP, is outside the system; the same people, if they also hold a PFA, transmit through the system the invoices issued under the PFA. Two regimes, depending on the code shown on the invoice.
Till receipts that satisfy the conditions of a simplified invoice, issued using a cash register, and invoices to clients in other states who are not registered for VAT purposes in Romania, remain outside the system. Anyone supplying foreign clients does not transmit those invoices, but is separately subject to the intra-Community VAT obligations.
For the small taxpayer category, which includes PFAs and the liberal professions, failing to transmit invoices or exceeding the five-working-day deadline is punishable by a fine of between 1,000 and 2,500 lei, applied per calendar month, not per invoice. In dealings with other taxable persons, a further penalty of up to 15% of the value of the untransmitted invoices applies, to both the issuer and, in certain conditions, the recipient who receives and records an invoice from outside the system.
The heavier sanction, however, is not the fine. An invoice issued by a taxpayer subject to the obligation, but not transmitted through the system, is not a supporting document for the client who wants to deduct it. A corporate client that receives an invoice from a PFA outside the system will refuse it, or will record it and lose the deduction on inspection. The commercial consequence precedes the regulatory-offence consequence.
And for the tax authority, the system is the source of automatic cross-checks: transmitted invoices are compared against VAT returns, through e-TVA, and against SAF-T data. An invoice that appears in the client's accounts and is missing from the system is a discrepancy that the inspection finds on its own.
CUI or CNP on the invoice. It is the only question that decides the obligation. Anyone who has both, for different activities, has two regimes.
For those with a tax registration code, Form 082 through the Spațiul Privat Virtual (SPV), with processing within three working days at most. For those on a CNP who nonetheless want the system, Form 081, the optional register.
The ANAF application, invoicing software connected to the system, or your accountant, acting under a power of attorney. The format is XML in the RO_CIUS standard; a paper or PDF invoice is not the invoice held in the system.
From the date of issue, excluding the day of issue, excluding weekends and public holidays. It is tracked invoice by invoice; a weekly transmission routine meets the deadline without effort.
As a recipient with a tax registration code, invoices from suppliers subject to the obligation must come through the system. An invoice received outside it, from a supplier subject to the obligation, should be refused or its retransmission requested; recording it is a risk you take on yourself.
An invoice transmitted in error is not deleted; it is reversed and another is issued, both through the system. The system's error messages must be resolved within the deadline, otherwise the invoice is not considered transmitted.
Invoices issued from 1 January 2024, or from 2025 for B2C, and not transmitted should be transmitted now, even late. Late transmission costs the monthly fine; non-transmission costs the fine, the client's deduction and the discrepancies found on inspection.
The obligation has nothing to do with VAT. A non-VAT-registered PFA with a tax registration code transmits everything.
For the CNP, the obligation was repealed in May, before it took effect. For a PFA with a tax registration code, there was no postponement at all: you have been in the system since 2024.
Five working days from 2026, not calendar days. The difference is small; the monthly fine is not.
No. The invoice held in the system is the one in XML format, transmitted and validated. The PDF is a copy for the client, not the invoice.
Yes. The obligation does not depend on VAT status, turnover, or whether you are taxed under the flat-rate income quota or the actual-income system. A PFA, an individual enterprise, a family enterprise and the liberal professions with a tax registration code transmit all invoices through RO e-Factura: those to companies and institutions from 1 January 2024, those to individuals from 1 January 2025.
No, not from 1 June 2026. Under Legea nr. 88/2026, suppliers who identify themselves for tax purposes by their personal identification number are no longer required to use the system, which remains optional for them. The obligation previously introduced for this category, with registration through Form 082, was removed before it took effect.
Five working days from the date the invoice is issued, from 1 January 2026, instead of the previous five calendar days. The day of issue is not counted, and weekends and public holidays do not count towards it. The deadline is the same for invoices to companies and for invoices to individuals.
For the small taxpayer category, which includes PFAs, the fine for non-transmission or for exceeding the deadline is between 1,000 and 2,500 lei, applied per calendar month, and in B2B dealings a further penalty of up to 15% of the value of the untransmitted invoices applies. Separately, an invoice that has not gone through the system is not a supporting document for the client's deduction.
Till receipts that satisfy the conditions of a simplified invoice are not transmitted through e-Factura; invoices issued to individuals, including simplified invoices, are. Anyone working exclusively with a cash register and not issuing invoices has nothing to transmit, but must issue an invoice when the client asks for one.
From the moment you obtain your tax registration code, you invoice on that code, not on your CNP, and the exemption no longer applies to you. Registration on the RO e-Factura list is made through Form 082, filed through the SPV, and your first invoice as a PFA is already transmitted through the system.
Informative material, updated on 18 September 2026. It does not constitute legal or tax advice; individual situations must be assessed on their own facts.
If you have an inspection under way or have just received a notification, the related analyses are grouped under tax inspection and the review of individuals. For how such matters are handled, see personal taxation.
An initial discussion establishes the regime based on the code shown on the invoice, what needs to be regularised for invoices issued since 2024, and how to organise transmission so the five-day deadline is met without effort.